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Installing/Using Linux for the 1st time- VoidPPC

W

ww2_1943

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 25, 2021
422
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North NJ
Hello all,

As the title of the thread states, I have not used or installed Linux before. I want to install Void PPC on my 7,3 G5 DP 1.8. I purchased a second SATA SSD to install Linux on. I have some questions about picking an install image, the partitioning, and install process.

  1. Is there a particular flavor that is recommended? Looking at the comparison chart I am leaning towards XFCE because it appears to come with the most pre-installed programs.
  2. I notice some images say "musl." Do I want an image with or without? I looked up msul but I still don't completely understand it.
  3. I am going to create an install DVD. The instructions for writing to USB seem to assume you are doing this in another Linux system, correct?
  4. Partitioning is the most confusing to me. In order to format and partition the drive, do I do that off of the install dvd? Hold C while booting?
  5. On this page, do I type the commands line for line in the yellow box under PowerPC Macs?. Do I type all of this word for word? Is there an easier step by step guide to follow?
  6. The actual installation process seems to be very straight forward. Is there anything to keep in mind here?
Thanks for reading!
 
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  1. Both MATE and XFCE seem to come with a nice preselection of packages AFAICS. XFCE is lighter on resources than MATE. I prefer XFCE anyway, so I've used that when I installed Void (on x86_64 though).
  2. I'd go for an image that uses glibc (which is the default on the vast majority of Linux distros), not musl. The reason is: software that is linked against glibc won't run on a musl-based system. musl is more relevant for specialised systems (embedded, server etc.). For general desktop use, I'd pick glibc.
  3. Correct. If you want an install DVD, just burn the .iso as an image in e.g. Disk Utility.
  4. Correct.
  5. Just type the commands, not the "#" sign and the comments that follow after it — but they need to match your setup.
  6. As I've never installed Void on PPC, I can't comment on that. (Sorry...)
 
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Amethyst1 said:
  1. Both MATE and XFCE seem to come with a nice preselection of packages AFAICS. XFCE is lighter on resources than MATE. I prefer XFCE anyway, so I've used that when I installed Void (on x86_64 though).
  2. I'd go for an image that uses glibc (which is the default on the vast majority of Linux distros), not musl. The reason is: software that is linked against glibc won't run on a musl-based system. musl is more relevant for specialised systems (embedded, server etc.). For general desktop use, I'd pick glibc.
  3. Correct. If you want an install DVD, just burn the .iso as an image in e.g. Disk Utility.
  4. Correct.
  5. Correct. Just type the commands, not the "#" sign and the comments that follow after it.
  6. As I've never installed Void on PPC, I can't comment on that. (Sorry...)
Click to expand...
Thank you! This was a helpful reply.
I plan on giving this a go later today.
 
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ww2_1943 said:
On this page, do I type the commands line for line in the yellow box under PowerPC Macs?. Do I type all of this word for word? Is there an easier step by step guide to follow?
Click to expand...
CORRECTION:

You need to supply mac-fdisk with the correct device name for the SSD you want to set up Linux on. It’s /dev/sda for the first SATA drive and /dev/sdb for the second one.

And the example commands will allocate 120 GB for the “root” (main system) partition and the remaining space for the “swap” (virtual memory) partition.

If you want the “root” partition to be of a different size (that depends on how big your SSD is), replace “120G” with the size you want, e.g. “200G”.

As for the “swap” partition (which gets used if you run out of RAM) I’d simply make its size equal to the amount of RAM your system has to keep it simple, but not larger than 4 GB (unless you know you’re going to be using lots and lots of memory).

So if your SSD is 240 GB, I’d specify “236G” (rather than 120G) for the root partition so that the swap partition ends up being the remaining 4 GB.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
I forgot: you need to supply mac-fdisk with the correct device name for the SSD you want to set up Linux on. It’s /dev/sda for the first SATA drive and /dev/sdb for the second one.

And the example commands will allocate 120 GB for the “root” (main system) partition and the remaining space for the “swap” (virtual memory) partition.

If you want the “root” partition to be of a different size, replace “120G” with the size you want, e.g. “200G”.

As for the “swap” partition (which gets used if you run out of RAM) I’d simply make its size equal to the amount of RAM your system has to keep it simple, but not larger than 4 GB (unless you know you’re going to be using lots and lots of memory).

So if your SSD is 240 GB, I’d specify “236G” (rather than 120G) for the root partition so that the swap partition ends up being the remaining 4 GB.
Click to expand...


My SSD is 128 GB which usually shows up as less than 128. I guess I should check how much memory is actually available before initializing.
 
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Be aware that the linux drive has to be in the top bay, otherwise it wont boot after install.

I'd also recommend the xfce-ppc64-glibc.iso if you are new to Linux. It gves you a desktop right away. It's also a live disk so you can test most of your hardware before installing. (Wifi and sound are done post install)

Cheers
 
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If you have a FX5200 use XFCE. I had problems with MATE on the FX5200 on my iMac G4 and my G5. XFCE ist working ok with FX5200. With AMD card you can use XFCE or MATE.

More infos would be nice.
 
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I am not sure which image to choose- I am stuck between
Void-live-ppc64-20210825.iso
and
void-live-ppcle-20210825.iso
Screen Shot 2022-06-30 at 9.02.36 PM.png
 
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